Paper Hearts
by tea-induced scribbles
Summary: For the Valentine's Day Extravaganza, idea courtesy of jag389: Tom and his children show Rachel how much she means to them.


_A/N: I know.. when will this madness end?! Another story for the Valentine's Extravaganza! Idea courtesy of jag389: Tom and his children show Rachel how much she means to them._

 _***Completely AU and doesn't run canon at all, so..just roll with it readers :)****_

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 **Paper Hearts.**

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Rachel had never been so happy to be back home as she did right now. Home, was a two story house in the suburbs that she lived with Tom and his kids. His father Jed lived across the street in his own house. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the past two and half years.

She could still remember her disappointment when Tom hadn't invited her into his hotel room the night of the Inauguration ball. She winced remembering being shot, her chest ached with phantom pain where the bullet had seared through her. But that was the past, she'd recovered from her injuries and fulfilled her duties of travelling around America spreading the cure and improving production of said cure. It had been a rough time, when she'd woken up in the hospital she had pushed everyone away needing to get back onto her feet by herself. Tom had respected that, but he also needed time to heal from his own grief of losing his wife.

But in the months after her being on the road they stayed in contact. They talked nearly every night, slowly the kids would talk to her wanting to know about the cure and how everything was going. She'd come back for sporadic visits and without even noticing they slipped into a easy but incredibly passionate relationship. Long distance relationships were a pain in ass, but they knew after she finished her duties; she'd return home to him and the kids. She knew they weren't entirely in favour of her being with their father but she understood their position and they respected Tom's decision to include her.

Soon they adjusted to her presence and seeing Tom and her together as a couple. She really admired them even though it couldn't easy for them. But here she was finally home, she was half afraid to step inside as she would setting her bags down for good. There was no more travelling for work. She had a lab in the city, she would become a permanent fixture in the Chandler's lives. It was rather unnerving and exciting given she had never had such permanency in her life before. But she pushed forward.

She walked up to the door and pulled out her house key, she unlocked the door and pushed it open with a foot . It was the middle of the day, she knew the kids would be at school and Tom at work. She took a deep breath taking in the smells of home, she frowned as she could smell the soft aroma of Camellia sinensis tea brewing. She placed her bags into the lounge room and closed the front door.

She moved into the kitchen and smiled to see Tom pouring hot water from the kettle into a tea pot, there were finger sandwiches, scones, jam and cream on the kitchen table. "You should've called, I would've picked you up from the airport." Tom told her as he placed the lid on the tea pot and placed the kettle back on the kitchen bench.

"I wanted to surprise you all, looks like you beat me to it." she quipped warmly as she loved this man. He moved to her and enveloped her in his arms. they shared a brief but thrilling kiss hello before Rachel pulled back. A smile on her lips as she had missed Tom and being home. Tea and scones, talk about being spoiled." she murmured as she moved to the table. She could kiss Tom forever but she was starving, so her stomach overruled her heart for food.

"Well, it's a celebration and I figured it was about time we called in that raincheck." he teased, Rachel picked up a finger sandwich and ate it in less than a second. "Hungry?" he asked as he watch her consume another three finger sandwiches in less than a minute. He took a seat at the table, smiling as Rachel blushed and nodded. She took a seat opposite him.

"How are you?" she asked after she swallowed another sandwich and proceeded to laden half a scone with jam before topping it with cream.

"Good, glad you're home." he told her as he poured out the tea for them. He hated how it tasted but this was the first time Rachel had been home for Valentine's day. Sure they didn't put a lot of importance on such things but he just wanted to spoil her and Valentine's gave him a good excuse to do so.

"I'm glad to be here too." she told him before she took a bite of the scone. She moaned in delight as it tasted amazing, the food on her assignments hadn't exactly been very good. Being on the Nathan James and visiting St Louis where the world seemed unchanged had spoiled her. Hell, Bacon's cooking spoiled her as MREs just didn't do it for her.

They shared tea and the food. Rachel laughed as Tom just couldn't drink her tea and conceded defeat before making himself a cup of coffee. They talked about everything that they'd missed in each other's absence and what they'd forgotten to share in phone calls. Once all the food had disappeared mostly into Rachel's stomach, they cleaned up the kitchen; Rachel decided it was time shower and unpack.

"So today is Valentine's day." Tom said as he followed Rachel up the stairs, carrying her bags to their bedroom. "The kids and I wanted to do something special to celebrate. It's not much, but we thought it'd be a nice tradition to start. So we did a trial run." he told her, they reached the door to their bedroom where Rachel stopped.

The door was covered in paper hearts, all them had writing in the centre of them. Rachel moved in closer unsure of what to make of it until she started reading them. She recognised Jed, Sammy and Ashley's distinctive writing from Tom's. Each heart was a note about something they 'loved' about her. She felt tears of joy fill her eyes as the messages range from superficial things like loving her long hair to more sentimental thoughts of loving how her smile made their world feel a little brighter, how they loved her in their life and wanted her to come back and stay. All messages of love and how much they cared about, there had to be over thirty hearts attached to the door.

"What do you think?" Tom asked from behind her.

"I love it." She told him with a smile, her heart full of love for Tom and his family.

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 _The End._


End file.
